Library

Knowledge is power. In healthcare, that phrase is especially true. That's why we've put together some information of the most common, and not so common, problems our patients face. We invite you to browse our library and become a better informed, more knowledgeable patient.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder characterized primarily by "the co-existence of attentional problems and hyperactivity, with each behavior occurring infrequently alone".

Cerebral palsy (CP) is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement.

Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a collection of physical and emotional symptoms related to a woman's menstrual cycle. Medical definitions of PMS are limited to a consistent pattern of emotional and physical symptoms.

Spinal stenosis is an abnormal narrowing (stenosis) of the spinal canal that may occur in any of the regions of the spine. This narrowing causes a restriction to the spinal cord, resulting in a neurological deficit.

A case study appeared in the June 2006 issue of Clinical Chiropractic and reported on a 69-year-old retired woman and civil servant who is a post-polio sufferer. In this case the woman presented with left hand pain of over 40 years duration with limited flexion of the fingers of her left hand.Â She reported that the pain had increased considerably over the past year.

The polio left the woman disabled, with the muscles of her right arm being severely wasted and affected so badly that it was now practically useless. She also suffered from additional health issues, some of which were related to her history of polio. She also reported an itching in her left hand.Â Her problems were severe enough that her surgeon recommended surgery for her multiple problems with her left hand.

In this case the patient began a course of chiropractic care and received care for 13 visits that were recorded for this case study. Over this period a number of improvements were noted. Following just her first visit, the patient noticed improvement with the feel and look of her left hand. She reported that it noticeably changed color from white to a more normal pink. Over the next few days she continued to notice hand improvement as well as a discontinuation of her hand itching.

After her sixth visit the patient's hand strength was measured and monitored. Over the next seven visits it improved going from a measured strength of 11.5 kg to 16kg. The case study also documented a noticeable improvement in her posture, with a significant visual decrease in her scoliosis and an improvement in her gait.

The case study noted that the woman returned to her surgeon after the study. They noted that the surgeon was very pleased with the patient's improvement in her appearance and functionality in her left hand and stated that he believed there was no longer a need for surgery or for any further visits.

In the discussion of this case the authors reported on a previous survey of 500 members of post-polio self-help groups in Australia, and their ratings of their responses to various forms of care including chiropractic. The results of this survey showed that Chiropractors received the highest patient satisfaction ratings for being very helpful at 45%, and General Practitioners received the lowest percentage at 22%. Additionally, that survey showed that chiropractors were judged as providing significantly more help than the other major health practitioner groups.

In the October 8, 2002 issue of the online magazine "The Beacon Journal" at Ohio.com, appears a story with the simple headline, "Adjusting baby". The story talks about pregnant women's success in going to chiropractors as part of their care. The article states that many women who go to chiropractors during pregnancy do so for back pain related issues. The misconception is that we treat pain,'' says Dr. Joseph Medina, an Ohio chiropractor. "My job in health care is to find pressure that's in the spinal column and take it off. When I do that, back pain tends to clear up."

Additionally, the article highlights that more women are going to chiropractors for a procedure known as the Webster technique. This technique is specifically intended to help women who have a breech pregnancy when the baby should be positioned with the head downward. Dr. Jeanne Ohm, a chiropractor from Philadelphia and executive coordinator and instructor for the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, described the Webster technique this way: "It's a specific chiropractic adjustment that removes interferences of the nervous system, balances out pelvic muscles and ligaments, which in turn removes constraint to the woman's uterus and allows the baby to get into the best possible position for birth."

The article ended with a response from the patient who originally went to the chiropractor for the pain she was experiencing. Her comments about her results were, "In the morning, my back would hurt so bad it would be hard to walk,'' she stated. Now it's not bad at all. I really think it's helping."

A qualitative study of pregnant women with low back pain, and their chiropractors was published on Oct. 9, 2012 in Chiropractic & Manual Therapies with the title of "The treatment experience of patients with lowback pain during pregnancy and their chiropractors: A qualitative study".

The pregnant women, all in their second or third trimester and suffering with low back pain, were interviewed by the study’s authors to investigate their feelings about the experience of chiropractic care during their pregnancy. Anonymity and confidentiality of the study’s respondents were protected by assigning a number to each respondent.

Low back pain is a common symptom during pregnancy. Between 50 to 80 percent of pregnant women report low back pain during pregnancy because of hormonal, postural, and structural adjustments to the body. Chiropractic care for low back pain during pregnancy is safe and effective according to previously published studies and reviews.

Positive results with no adverse effects were experienced by all the pregnant women in the study. A reduction in low back pain, increase in range of motion, and better function were some of the reported experiences.“It really allowed me to function. I could barely walk before or stand, the pain was intense, but after I went to the chiropractor I found I could function day to day, I could walk from the bus stop to work, I could do these things, so that was pretty significant. It’s just helping me function. It’s just teaching me how to pick up my daughter so I don’t hurt myself. To still function, to still play with my daughter and be able to go to the grocery store and do all these things without really hurting myself. As well as it allows me to sleep at night,” said patient number 05.

In addition to the reduction or elimination of lower back pain, some of the pregnant women reported that chiropractic care increased their overall quality of life, and increased mobility.

“I can walk longer periods of time. So that’s excellent. I can go standing for four to five hours. Because prior to that I’d be standing 40 minutes to do the dishes and I’d be in agony. Even the basic things, like picking things up off the floor, you’d get stuck in that position, I haven’t experienced that yet [in this pregnancy]. Or just sitting for long periods of time, because I do work an office job from home, so I do sit long periods of time. I know for most people [they] have to get up and stretch for a couple minutes, even in doing that I’ve been doing okay,” said patient number 01.

Some respondents had sought chiropractic care for previous pregnancies due to low back pain, and continued with chiropractic care for later pregnancies because of positive results.Pregnant patient number 11 said, “It worked so well the first time, I’d even come away from the appointment feeling better. It was almost an immediate fix. So because of my positive experience the first time, there was no question that I was going to use chiropractic care for the second pregnancy.”

The study results conclude that chiropractic care for pregnant women suffering from low back pain is effective for pain relief, increased range of motion, increased mobility, and overall better quality of life. “I think after the treatment, it was decreased pain and increased sense of mobility, increased range of motion and decreased sense of frustration and grumpiness,” said patient number 06.

A preliminary study published in the June 2005 edition of the British scientific journal Clinical Chiropractic, showed that chiropractic helped patients with Multiple Sclerosis who were suffering from pain associated with their MS. The study was performed at the extended care facility, Monroe Community Hospital in Rochester, New York. The study noted that many patients with MS suffer from reoccurring pain that can have a debilitating effect on patients ability to function.

In this preliminary study 19 patients who were residents of Monroe Community Hospital and who suffered from relapsing MS received chiropractic care over a 12 month period. The average age of these patients was 52.7 and 84% were female.

The results showed that all 19 showed a general trend toward improvement. Also important is that only three showed any transient side effects and that those effects lasted less than 48 hours. In all no serious side effects were noted in this study.

The researchers noted that MS patients have a high likelihood of developing chronic pain syndromes. This pain can lead to a higher degree of disability than the MS alone. They stated, "Given the high rate of complications with NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs), and narcotics it is imperative that different treatment options for this chronic pain be evaluated. The researchers continued, "The treatment for pain has traditionally been pharmacological: however, greater numbers of MS patients suffering from chronic pain are turning to non-pharmacologic treatment options, including chiropractic care.

A positive report was published in the November / December 1999 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics concerning the effects of chiropractic on the symptoms associated with premenstrual syndrome.

The study was completed on 25 women. Estimates of the prevalence of this condition vary depending on criteria. This study estimated that between 10% and 20% of reproductive age women have severe symptoms associated with this condition. The study included chiropractic adjustments for a ten day period prior to the beginning of the subjects cycles.

The women were asked to monitor their symptoms and rate them with a score using "0" = none to "3" = severe. The results showed a reduction in symptoms from between 42% and 32% for the group that received chiropractic for only a short time. Although these findings are encouraging, and long term study would be interesting to see if the results were even greater, the researchers concluded, "results support the hypothesis that the symptoms associated with PMS can be reduced by chiropractic".

The Los Angeles Times published a story titled “Legal drugs, deadly outcomes” on Nov. 11, 2012 about deaths from prescription drugs.

When people think of deaths due to drug overdose, probably heroin and cocaine as the cause comes to mind before the prescription drugs in the medicine cabinet. An investigation of coroner’s records by the L.A. Times revealed that prescription drugs prescribed by a few doctors were at the root of many drug overdoses.

The L.A. Times investigation revealed that Van H. Vu,M.D., was the doctor responsible for prescribing drugs that were used in the deaths of six people due to drug overdose in a time period of 18 months. Ten more of Vu’s patients died from overdoses in the next four years.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2.7 percent of Americans use psychotherapeutic drugs for non-medical reasons with pain relievers being the number one abused prescription drugs with 5.1 million American using the drugs non-medically.

Twelve thousand people died from prescription drug overdose in 2008, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Cocaine deaths were numbered at 4,000 people, and heroin deaths were numbered at approximately 2,000 people. Both numbers are significantly less than the total of prescription drug overdose deaths.

Prescription drugs are obtained by teenagers helping themselves to drugs prescribed for their parents. The most common of these prescribed drugs are Oxycontin, Vicodin, and Xanax. Teens take the drugs for themselves and they also sell them to students at their schools. Pharmacies are threatened with drug robberies to obtain the prescription drugs.

The L.A. Times investigation revealed that prescription drugs caused or contributed to 1,762 deaths in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, and San Diego counties between 2006 and 2011. A small number of doctors were found to be associated with the drug prescriptions. Each of the doctors had prescribed drugs to three or more of the people who died. Vu prescribed the drugs for sixteen of the people who died."The data you have is something that's going to shock everybody," said Dr. Jorge F. Carreon, a former member of the Medical Board of California.

Only four of the doctors associated with this investigation have been convicted of drug offenses, and a fifth has been charged with second-degree murder due to the prescription drug overdoses of three patients. All other doctors, including Vu, have not been charged.

According to the L.A. Times article, doctors write around 300 million prescriptions a year for painkillers. This amount could allow every adult in America to be medicated 24 hours a day for a month. Pain relievers cause 3 out of 4 prescription drug overdoses. Additionally, for every death, 32 people go to the emergency room for non-fatal drug overdoses.

Many doctors don’t acknowledge the ease with which patients can become addicted to prescription drugs, or the dangers involved with prescription drug use, according to Dr. Lynn Webster, the president-elect of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. "It leads them down a path that can be very harmful, and that's what physicians have to watch for," said Webster.

The above is the title of a research case study published on April 11, 2013 in the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health. The author of the study describes Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) as, "a spinal curvature that presents from the age of 10 until skeletal maturity." It is more common in girls than in boys.

In this case a fourteen year old girl came to the chiropractor concerned about her right hip being higher than her left. She was not experiencing any pain. An initial chiropractic examination showed that her range of motion was within normal limits. A postural analysis showed that her head was rotated to the left and tilted to the right. She also had a right high shoulder and hip and her left foot was rotated outward.

Palpation of the girl's spine showed multiple areas of increased sensitivity as well as muscle spasm along her spine. X-rays of the girls spine were taken which confirmed the presence of a scoliosis. Using a standard measuring system called the "Cobb" it was determined that the girl had a scoliosis with a Cobb angle that measured 17.2 degrees in the mid back area of her spine.

A series of specific chiropractic adjustments were given over the next 13 weeks. The girl was also given home spinal exercises to aid in the corrections. Assessments were done twice during the course of the 13 week period and improvements were noted each time.

The author noted that the first reassessment showed obvious postural improvements with the head and neck. There was still muscle spasm noted, but it had decreased. Her head rotation had improved and the head tilt had totally corrected. The author notes that the girl was pleased with the changes she was able to notice.

On the second assessment, further improvement was noted in posture and positioning. A second set of x-rays was taken that documented an improvement in the spinal curvature from a Cobb angle of 17.2 degrees down to 13.5 degrees. This improvement represents only the 13 week time frame of the study as published.

In her discussion the author comments, "Conservative methods of treatment for scoliosis should continue to focus on the prevention of the progression of scoliosis until the etiology is known." She continues and elaborates on the chiropractic approach by noting, "Regardless of the technique used, the majority of chiropractors are focused on detecting and removing vertebral subluxations to reinstate normality to function."

From the June 2004 issue of the peer reviewed scientific journal, The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, comes a documented case study of a 70 year old woman who was injured in a side-impact motor vehicle accident. The report noted that within hours of the accident, the woman developed headaches, neck pain, and a burning sensation on the left side of her face and the entire left side of her body, including her arms and legs.

She was taken to the emergency room where an MRI was performed and she was initially diagnosed as having had a CVA (cerebral vascular accident or stroke). Later she was seen by a neurologist who felt that she had not suffered a CVA and after additional tests her diagnosis was changed to "cervical myelopathy". Cervical myelopathy is a form of spinal cord injury resulting in spinal cord compression. A cervical MRI was performed and revealed significant spinal stenosis with spinal cord deformation.

The patient started chiropractic care two weeks after the accident. She stated that her goal was to avoid spinal surgery. Her symptoms included headaches, neck pain, and a problem she described as an "odd sensation like my left face, body, arm, and leg are hot and burning."

Specific chiropractic care was initiated and the patient was adjusted each office visit for 18 sessions over 55 days at a frequency of 3 times per week for the first 2 weeks and then once per week for the duration of the treatment period.Â Within just two weeks the patient reported that her burning sensation had decreased by about 90%. She also experienced quick resolution of her muscular aches and pains. In just under 2 months the patient had reported complete resolution of her symptoms.

In this study the author concluded, "Resolution of the signs and symptoms of cervical stenosis with MRI-documented spinal cord compression through chiropractic techniques is reported." In other words, this patient was spared surgery and the quality of her life was dramatically improved.

The above is the headline from an April 7, 2013 article on Fosters.com of the Fosters Daily Democrat from Oregon. The article notes that hospitals are now starting to post mistakes online in an effort to improve patient safety.

The article notes that for the first time, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has released inspection reports for hospitals nationwide from the past two years. The release of these reports was in response to a request by the Association of Health Care Journalists, who has placed these reports onto a publicly searchable database.

According to the article, in Oregon alone, the database shows that, since January 2011, inspectors have found at least 82 violations. "We take every one of these seriously," said Cheryl Nester Wolfe, Salem hospital's chief operating officer. "It's a good opportunity to examine our system and figure out where we can make improvements."

An article in The Boston Globe dated April 09, 2013, about hospital safety specifically at Brigham and Women’s Hospital notes that the hospital publishes a newsletter that openly talks about errors made at the hospital. The newsletter, "Safety Matters" is not available to the general public, but copies are delivered to the newspapers such as the Boston Globe.

"Open-faced transparency is really valuable to staff at an institution because it causes them to know themselves better," said Paul O’Neill, a member of the Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation, a nonprofit research organization based in Boston. But few, if any, other hospitals are doing anything like what the Brigham does, he said: "Unfortunately, I would say it’s highly unusual."

On the Portland TV news station website KGW.com, on April 3, 2013 Jason McNichol, president of Health Advocacy Solutions commented on some of the additional benefits of having hospitals publish errors online by stating, "It also gives hospitals an incentive to do the right thing because the more accountability and transparency there is, the more incentive there is for hospitals to clean up mistakes and problems when they see them.

A research project published in the September 2005 issue of the peer reviewed scientific journal, The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, JMPT, showed that "Spinal Dysfunction" (more commonly known as subluxation in chiropractic) is related to slower and/or less accurate reaction times and therefore to cognitive function.

The double-blind, randomized, study was performed on thirty volunteers who had evidence of what the researchers called "cervical spinal joint dysfunction". Researchers at the New Zealand Chiropractic College examined the volunteers to determine areas of spinal dysfunction. It was then noted how many areas of spinal dysfunctions were found on each subject and this information was compared to the results of the reaction times testing done later.

A range of computer-based tasks were then performed by the volunteers in order to determine various types of reaction time. The reaction times of the volunteers was then compared to their number of areas of spinal dysfunctions to see if there was any relationship.

The results showed that there was a connection between the number of areas of spinal dysfunction and certain types of reaction times. Researchers noted that the types of reaction times affected by multiple areas of spinal dysfunction were therefore related to impaired cortical processing and significantly less accurate response selection. In fact, they found that the more areas of spinal dysfunction, the more it affected reaction times.

The researchers concluded that certain types of reactions times could be good indicators of the effects of "cervical manipulations" (adjustments) in people with spinal dysfunctions, (subluxations). The ramifications of this study could not only affect general health, but could offer great benefits for athletes.

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The July 26, 2012, issue of the Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research, discusses a documented case study of a woman suffering with Rheumatoid arthritis, whose quality of life was dramatically improved through chiropractic.

The authors of the study begin by explaining that, "Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an idiopathic autoimmune disease categorized by systemic inflammation primarily of joints and soft tissue". They also note that previous studies show that RA is 2 to 3 times more common in women than men. The authors also report that according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was estimated that in 2005, 1.293 million adults aged 18 and older suffered from RA.

In this case a 54-year-old woman entered a chiropractic health center specifically for care of her Rheumatoid Arthritis. At that time, the woman was complaining of severe pain in both her hands and her fingers. She also had swelling of the joints and muscles in her hands, fingers, knees, feet and toes. In a self rating pain scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst, the woman rated herself as a 9 out of 10 if she was not taking medication and a 3 out of 10 when medicated.

The woman had been diagnosed 7 years earlier with RA. By the time she came to the chiropractor, her condition had gotten so bad that many mornings she awoke with pain that made standing erect very difficult. The study authors also reported that when walking, she often had to hold onto the wall due to the severe magnitude of her pain.A chiropractic examination was performed consisting of several tests including x-rays and a surface EMG study. The determination of the presence of subluxations was made and a specific course of chiropractic care was initiated.

The results for this woman were life changing. By the fourth month of chiropractic care, she was able to discontinue taking her medications. By the tenth month of care, her pain from the RA had reduced to a 1 out of 10 without her having to take any medications. The woman later reported that she was able to dance, exercise, and walk up her stairs without any pain.

In their discussions the authors wrote, "After seven years of management in the medical model the patient exhausted her options and was ready to take control of her health. The patient was able to gradually stop taking medication for pain and inflammation and she is now drug-free. This patient made dietary changes and underwent corrective chiropractic care to realign the spine to allow for better function."

From the May 8th, 2006, issue of the Ventura County Star comes an interesting article on rodeo cowboys and chiropractic. The article starts off by reviewing the harsh incidents rodeo cowboys endure. The article describes how they get tossed around on the back of an angry 1,800-pound bull, they leap off a galloping horse, many times into the spiky horns of a charging steer. Often they get hurt and then pick themselves up, dust themselves off and endure the pain.

The article continues and notes that even the roughest, toughest cowboys need help. That's when they mosey over to the Pro-Sport Chiropractic tent to get some TLC and Chiropractic care. At the the Conejo Valley Days rodeo, the cowboys would slip just beyond the spectators site into a tent where they would get adjusted.

A local chiropractor who cares for the cowboys, Dr. Terry Weyman said, "I've seen guys with noses splayed open, and they still talk to you like nothing is wrong. It's the world's roughest sport, bull riding. If you can handle these guys, you can handle anybody."

The article goes onto say that every time ProSport Chiropractic sets up a tent at professional rodeos around the country, the cowboys come to get care.Â One rodeo cowboy, bull wrestler Kevin McKinney noted in the article that his pain was a "nine" on a scale of one to ten. "I'm hurting," was his comment as he came into the tent for care.

McKinney's wife, Tammy, who was wearing a T-shirt that read, "Every girl loves a dirty cowboy," agreed that he must be hurting if he says anything. She added, "He'll ride if he's hurt. That's how much he loves it." After getting evaluated and receiving chiropractic care, McKinney walked away. Then, referring to his aches and pain, he commented, "It's always worth it."

Published in the January 12, 2006 issue of the scientific journal, Chiropractic & Osteopathy from Australasia, comes a report of a series of case studies documenting chiropractic helping multiple cases of idiopathic scoliosis. In this report three documented case studies are followed and the results reported after chiropractic care.

Idiopathic scoliosis is the most prevalent form of scoliosis and occurs to some degree in approximately one half million adolescents in the US. Scoliosis is a bending or curvature of the spine. The term idiopathic means that the origin is unknown.

In this report the three subjects each had uniquely different situations. The first subject was a 37-yr-old female who came to a private spine clinic with a chief complaint of neck and back pain. Her history included surgical spinal fusion and implantation of a Harrington rod against her spine. The second subject was a 30-yr-old male who also went to a private spine clinic with a chief complaint of chronic mid thoracic pain. His history included scoliosis and a previous diagnosis of Scheuermann's Disease. The third subject was a 23-year-old female who presented with neck and mid-back and shoulder pain.

The subjects in this study were noted as having curvatures measuring 35°, 22°, and 37° respectively. These curvatures were measured using the "Cobb angle" which is a standard technique used to measure the severity of a spinal curve - in degrees - from spinal x-rays.

The chiropractic care consisted of a 12 week period of adjustment and home care treatments. These were followed up by post-treatment x-rays and examinations in order to evaluate the progress. The results were measured using the Cobb angle method and the measurements were compared to the Cobb angles recorded at the beginning of care.

The results in these cases all showed improvement. The patient with an initial 35° Cobb angle showed a 13° reduction after the 12 week period. The patient with the initial 22° Cobb angle showed an 8° improvement, and the patient with the 37° initial Cobb angle, showed a decrease of 16° over the 12 weeks. The researchers noted that this study was small, and they said that the findings suggest the need for a larger controlled study. They concluded, " Given the perceived results of the cases outlined here, it is worthy of future investigations in such cases."

The general population is going to chiropractors in record numbers. Seniors, the fastest segment of the population is no exception. According to a recent August 24th 1999 article in USA Today, more than 80% of seniors age 65 or greater are aware of what the article termed alternative medicine. This awareness has lead to a fairly fast growing utilization of these services. The breakdown for usage of chiropractic and other non-medical health care is as follows:

- Chiropractic lead the way with a utilization of 32%, second was massage therapy at 16%, followed by acupuncture 9%, homeopathy at 4%, naturopathy 3% and Chinese medicine 3%.

A recent study published in Topics in Clinical Chiropractic of a randomized clinical trial showed data that found chiropractic geriatric patients were "less likely to have been hospitalized, less likely to have used a nursing home, more likely to report a better health status, more likely to exercise vigorously, and more likely to be mobile in the community."